Old Sandals

For their heart was not steadfast with Him, nor were they faithful in His covenant. But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them. Yes, many a time He turned His anger away,  and did not stir up all His wrath; for He remembered that they were but flesh, a breath that passes away and does not come again.

It seems parodoxical that the Scriptures reveal a God whose very essence is love, yet whose wrath is terrible. God’s love cannot be overestimated, yet it is not to be taken for granted.  His wrath has to be accounted for.

In the Chronicles of Narnia, when confronted by the idea of Aslan, the lion, who is a picture of God, Lucy asks, “Is He safe?”

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. ”Who said anything about safe?  Of course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more? Has His mercy ceased forever? Has His promise failed forevermore? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies?

Although these questions are not directly answered in this psalm, the strong implication here is that the answer to all of them is no, a resounding NO.  No, it cannot be!  It goes against the very character of God revealed in the Old Testament, and in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Has His mercy ceased forever? No, His mercies endure forever.  We cannot say less than the Scriptures teach us.  But we dare not say more.  God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy.

As Kallistos Ware, a bishop in the Greek Orthodox Church, has written:

“Our belief in human freedom means that we have no right to categorically affirm, “All must be saved.” But our faith in God’s love [and mercy] makes us dare to hope that all will be saved.”

We have to leave it at that.

You caused judgment to be heard from heaven; the earth feared and was still, when God arose to judgment, to deliver all the oppressed of the earth.

When Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, became man and died on a Roman cross, a judgment was taking place.  Sin and death were being judged, as it were, and through His death and resurrection all the oppressed of the earth—oppressed by sin and death—are delivered.

It is as if the bars of our prison have been broken down by the death and resurrection of the God-Man.  And yet we must walk out of the prison by faith, repenting of our sins that put us there in the first place, in order to obtain the deliverance that has been gloriously wrought for us.

For exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the Judge: He puts down one, and exalts another. For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is fully mixed, and He pours it out.  Surely its dregs shall all the wicked of the earth drain and drink down.

God is indeed sovereign, and His kingdom rules over all.  This means that we don’t determine our destiny all by ourselves.  If we are successful in life, we should not boast about our business savvy, or our good looks, or our ability to take risks and be decisive.  God is the Judge.  We should rather be grateful to God for what He has allowed us to achieve, and to ask ourselves the really hard question: Has my “success” moved me and those I love closer to the Kingdom or further away from it?

The measure of real success after all is the size of your heart; it is not the size of your wallet.

O God, why have you rejected us so long? Why is your anger so intense against the sheep of your own pasture? Remember that we are the people you chose long ago, the tribe you redeemed as your own special possession!  And remember Jerusalem, your home here on earth. Walk through the awful ruins of the city; see how the enemy has destroyed your sanctuary.  There your enemies shouted their victorious battle cries; there they set up their battle standards. They swung their axes like woodcutters in a forest. With axes and picks,  they smashed the carved paneling. They burned your sanctuary to the ground. They defiled the place that bears your name. Then they thought, “Let’s destroy everything!”  So they burned down all the places where God was worshiped. We no longer see your miraculous signs. All the prophets are gone, and no one can tell us when it will end.

It seems strange that the psalmist would ask why. “Why have you rejected us?  Why is your anger so intense?”  Had not the LORD God warned His people through prophet after prophet, that unless they turned from their idolatrous ways to serve the LORD wholeheartedly, that they would be destroyed? In a way, it is the LORD’s mercy that His people were not totally consumed.  It is of the LORD’s mercies… And His faithfulness to the covenant with His people.

A covenant is much more than a legal contract.  It is a committed relationship.

When I thought  how  to understand this, it was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of God;  then I understood their end.

Unless we see things from God’s perspective, life is too difficult to figure out. Even painful. But that’s why we’re here (in church). For now it makes sense. Now we have hope.

I know all the birds of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field  are Mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is Mine, and all its fullness. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.

A heart full of thanksgiving, and a life lived that way; these are the things most important to God. In fact, we can’t hope to otherwise please Him.

But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for He shall receive me. Selah.

Death is the great unconquerable enemy, or used to be. Praise God!

For this is God. Our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even to death.

Our guide forever. Unto death, in the glorious resurrection, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

For the Lord Most High is awesome;  he is a great King over all the earth.

This is literally true. It is not a figment of the Psalmist’s imagination. He has given mankind a lot of lattitude. And yet his days are numbered.  And after that, the judgment.